A leading cue sports official has accused Zhou Mengmeng of being
"irresponsible" for taking a conflict with a male team-mate to the
media.
The 19-year-old Zhou, one of two female members on China's cue
sports team, had earlier claimed Tian Pengfei, a snooker player,
had hit her in the stomach and in the face after harassing her.
Zhang Xiaoning, director of the Multi-balls Administrative
Center, the governing body of China's cue sports, said Zhou’s
response had been overly willful.
"Her words to the media were very irresponsible," said Zhang.
"We are still investigating her claims, but as far as I know, it's
just a minor quarrel between young friends.
"I don't think there is anything like sexual harassment, it's
definitely not as serious as the media reports."
Zhou dropped out of the Asian Games after losing to South
Korea's Kim Ga-young 7-1 on Saturday in the eight-ball pool
semi-final. She stated her intention to file a legal suit against
Tian upon her return to Beijing.
"I will come home in a few days to prepare for the suit with my
family," she said. "My parents have employed a lawyer for me. I
want to solve the problem in a legal way."
She added that she had only agreed to meet with Tian after he
had repeatedly called her mobile phone and sent her allegedly
harassing text messages.
The 19-year-old Tian, a double gold winner in the men's doubles
and team snooker events, admitted he had had a physical conflict
with Zhou, but insisted her reaction was an act of revenge.
"Yes, I pushed her once, but I didn't hit her and harassment is
of course out of the question," Tian said. "I once rejected her
advances. I think she is taking revenge on me. She is absolutely
absurd."
(China Daily December 12, 2006)